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May 11th, 2012
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed into law a refreshingly bipartisan act by the state legislature that will protect good samaritans who use portable defibrillators to try to save the lives of sudden heart attack victims.
As reported by NJToday.net, the “law, S-852, eliminates language in state statute that requires a person using an automated external defibrillator (AED) to have received training in both CPR and the usage of the AED. The law reduces requirements that entities require CPR and AED training for all people who might use the AED to just the people most likely to use the device.”
More importantly, it “provides immunity from civil liability to any . . . → Read More: New Jersey Protects ‘Good Samaritans’ Trying to Save Lives
May 2nd, 2012
First the good news. Last week a jury ruled in favor of Union Carbide, the defendant in an asbestos lawsuit that once resulted in a $322 million verdict, the largest asbestos award for a single plaintiff in U.S. history. . . . → Read More: Good News, Bad News from Mississippi Courts
April 26th, 2012
This week the Iowa legislature unanimously passed H.F. 563, TiPAC legislation. The law will bring needed transparency to the process of the state’s occasional hiring of outside counsel. . . . → Read More: ATRA Celebrates TiPAC Victory in Iowa!
April 24th, 2012
Last week, Merck & Co. successfully defended itself against a claim involving its drug, Fosamax. This was the company’s fifth win in six such cases that have gone to trial. The cases were heard in the Atlantic County Superior Court by Judge Carol Higbee, a court that has consistently been targeted by our Judicial Hellholes report. . . . → Read More: Welcomed Signs of Fairness in Former ‘Judicial Hellhole’
April 23rd, 2012
Over the past few years, doctors in both North Carolina and Ohio have seen a dramatic decrease in their insurance premiums, a decline in closed medical malpractice claims, and a significant decrease in total payments for medical liability. As a result, the market for physicians has stabilized and doctors are no longer fleeing the state out of fear of skyrocketing costs of medical liability insurance premiums. This has led to better access to competent doctors for all state citizens. . . . → Read More: Medical Liability Reform Having Great Desired Effects in North Carolina and Ohio
April 13th, 2012
A recent California Supreme Court provides the state’s employers with greater flexibility in operating their establishments. It will help to curb wage-and-hour class actions in the state, allowing many employers to “breathe a huge sigh of relief.” The Court’s decision may indicate a trend of fair rulings for California businesses. . . . → Read More: California Employers Breathe ‘Huge Sigh of Relief’
April 5th, 2012
In a big win for lovers of hamburgers and cheap toys, and in a stinging defeat for incompetent parents who can’t control the acquisitive impulses of their young children, a San Francisco judge yesterday thankfully disposed of another crazy California consumer class action — this one targeting McDonald’s — like a garbage bag full of stale buns . . . → Read More: Siding with Hamburger and Toy Lovers, Judge Dismisses Incompetent Parents’ Class Action
April 3rd, 2012
Louisiana has joined the growing majority of states whose high courts have upheld statutory limits on medical liability damages awarded by juries. These limits provide greater protection for doctors, which decrease the likelihood of doctors fleeing the state, thereby, increasing patients’ access to health care and increasing the standard of care which is available. . . . → Read More: Louisiana Supreme Court Joins Growing Number of State High Courts Upholding Limits on Medical Liability Damages
March 30th, 2012
Coming less than six weeks after a potentially game-changing judicial reform order in Philadelphia, the #1 Judicial Hellhole for the past two years, a judge in another perennial Hellhole has issued a comparable reform order that could serve to significantly shrink the nation’s largest asbestos docket . . . → Read More: Madison County Judge Orders Bold Reform
March 29th, 2012
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas has upheld the constitutionality of the Lone Star State’s 2003 limits on noneconomic damages in medical liability cases . . . → Read More: Good News from the Eastern District of Texas: Reasonable Limits on Noneconomic Damages Upheld as Constitutional
March 27th, 2012
As the spring session heats up, the Louisiana legislature has the opportunity to adopt civil justice reform measures that would drastically change the way latent disease claims are handled in court. . . . → Read More: Civil Justice Reform Package Making It’s Way through the Louisiana Legislature
February 28th, 2012
Though judges in the infamous Judicial Hellhole of Madison County, Illinois have allowed supporters of the troubled organic farming industry to perpetuate a meritless class action against the makers of a safe and widely used weed killer for eight long years, a no-nonsense federal judge in New York was not as patient . . . → Read More: Food Eaters 1, Uncompetitive Organics Industry 0
February 24th, 2012
New York’s highest court this week reasonably sided with third-party defendants that had been parasitically targeted with the state’s runaway “scaffold law” . . . → Read More: ‘Sue York’ High Court Knocks ‘Scaffold Law’ Parasites down a Peg
February 22nd, 2012
A recent 5-2 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the mandatory bifurcation provision of the punitive damages statute adopted in 2005 . . . → Read More: Ohio Supreme Court Upholds 2005 Tort Reform Statute
February 16th, 2012
After being cited as the #1 Judicial Hellhole for the past two years running, Philadelphia’s top administrative judge yesterday announced sweeping rules changes that should go a long way in mitigating the Complex Litigation Center’s troublingly plaintiff-friendly reputation . . . → Read More: Very Good News from Philly!
January 31st, 2012
Concerned by some of the highest-in-the-nation insurance premiums for physicians, a key committee in the Florida House has passed a bill that would grant greater protections for health care providers in medical liability cases . . . → Read More: Florida Bill Seeks Greater Legal Protections for Health Care Providers
January 24th, 2012
ATRA has joined a number of like-minded organizations in offering comments that urge Philadelphia civil courts to end the use of unfair procedures known as “consolidation” and “reverse bifurcation” in mass tort cases . . . → Read More: ATRA, Others Urge Philadelphia Courts to Eliminate Unfair Elements of Civil Litigation
January 20th, 2012
The $322 million verdict in a Mississippi case that would have been “as funny as ‘My Cousin Vinny’ if it weren’t for [the] terribly negative impact on the Magnolia State’s efforts to compete in attracting businesses and jobs” has been thrown out. . . . → Read More: Record Asbestos Verdict in Mississippi Thrown Out
January 20th, 2012
Deny as they might that Philadelphia’s civil courts have earned their #1-ranking among Judicial Hellholes for the last two years, it appears judges there have nonetheless undertaken some potentially meaningful reforms. . . . → Read More: Philadelphia, Worst of the ‘Judicial Hellholes,’ May Be Working to Improve Its Lousy Reputation
October 7th, 2011
Mississippi’s supreme court yesterday issued a unanimous order that removes a biased trial judge from further involvement with a record-setting asbestos case . . . → Read More: State High Court Removes ‘Automatic Hellhole’ Judge from Asbestos Case in Mississippi
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